Water heater



March 26, 1935. V YL NG WATER HEATER Filed Oct. 10, 1952 INVENTOR. Per L/f'V'Tey/My 0 .QNQszQ ATTORNEY.

'30 and Patented Mar. 25, 1935 i UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE WATER HEATER Per L. F. Feyling, Watertown, Mass, a'ssignor,

by mesne assignments, to Whitehead Metal Products Company of New York, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 10, 1932, Serial No. 637,044

' 4 Claims. (01.122-44) The present invention relates to hot water nected to a flue pipe or tube 6. In practice, it is heaters and more pa 'ticularly to slow recovery preferred to extend the tubes or pipes 6 to a rewaterheaters. gion higher'than the top of the water tank 1'.

It is an object of the present invention to pro- Usually it is preferred to provide the top of each vide a water heater having a maximum thermal flue pipe or tube with a suitable draft diverter 5 efficiency and a minimum heating surface. or hood 7 to'prevent the entry of a down draft.

It is another object of the invention to provide. Surrounding tank 1 and the flue pipes or tubes a slow recovery water heater having such a con- 6 is an insulating layer 8. As is well known, this struction that the flue gas leaves the heater with layer of insulation thermally isolates water tank 1Uv a controlled amount of heat removed therefrom. 1 and flue pipes 6 and prevents the loss of heat.

It is a further object of the invention to locate. In the preferred embodiment, a shell or casing 9 the heating surface atthe lowestregion of the completely houses the insulation. Shell 9 may body of water. be made of an appropriate material such as metal It is also within the contemplation of the inor the like,

vention to provide a slow recovery water heater A cold water inlet pipe 10 brings the water into 15 of such a construction that it can be practically, tank 1 and hot water outlet pipe 11 leads the perfectly insulated against heat losses. hot water out of the tank in the usual manner.

A further object of the invention is to provide A drain pipe 12 and drain valve 13 are located a slow recovery water heater of such a construcat the bottom of the tank to drain off the tank tion that a pilot flame of minimum size is capable when desired. v I 20 of supplying sufficient heat to'balance the heat For the purpose of controlling the temperature losses and to prevent the body of water from of the water of the tank, a thermostat, as well being cooled ofi sufiiciently to cause the operaknown by those skilled in the art, controls the tion of the thermostat. operation of burner 3. The gas burner also has Other objects and advantages will become ap-' a suitable safety pilot 15 associated therewith in 25 parent from the following description taken in a customary manner. conjunction with the drawing in which The operation of the present slow recovery water Fig. l is an elevational view, partly broken away heater is obvious to those skilled in the art. Burnand partly in a section for purposes of clarity; or 3 heats the water in the tank by heating the r y bottom of the tank. The waste products of com- Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 except the bustion or fluegases from burner 3 leaves the view is taken approximately at right angles to combustion chamber 4 via discharge outlets 5 and flue pipes 6. When the flue gases leave the flue Referring more particularly to Fig. l, the refpipes via draft hoods '7, they are at a relatively :erence character 1' designates a water or storage low temperature. All of the desired heat is retank which is supported upon a plurality of legs moved from the flue gases before being discharged.

2 which are adapted to stand upon the floor or In this manner, the heat is utilized efficiently and some other supporting surface. 'Of course, other very little heat is wasted.

appropriate means may be employed for sup- As soon as the water is heated to the desired A 40 .porting the water tank as those skilled in the art temperature thermostat 14 operates in the usual 40 will readily understand. 7 way and shuts off burner 3. If no water is with- Underneath tank 1, a burner 3 is located. As drawn from the tank, the pilot light gives sufiimay be seen from the drawing, the burner is cient heat to counter balance the heat losses. adapted to play upon and to heat the bottom of Due to the fact that the body of water in tank 5 the tank 1. Between the bottom of tank 1 and 1 remains at practically the same temperature, the burner 3, a combustion chamber 4 is located. thermostat 1 does not become operative. As a This chamber is sufficiently large to accommoresult, the water heater functions with great date the flame of burner 3 and to permit the economy. proper combustion of the flame. It is to be noted that the principles ordinarily do Associated with the combustion chamber is an employed for a regular water heater of the underoutlet to carry off the products of combustion. fired or sidearm type as one having a separate It is preferred to utilize a plurality of Waste gas heater cannot be used in a slow recovery heater outlets 5 in association with the upper part of due to'the fact that the heating surface would the combustion chamber 4 as may be clearly seen be too large and the flue gas would have such a from Fig. 2. Each discharge outlet 5 is conlow temperature that excessive condensation on 55 the heating surface would occur. The disadvantages of such prior art construction have been overcome by the present invention.

It is to be observed that the present invention provides a water heater particularly a slow recovery water heater which has a reduced heating surface in comparison with prior art heaters and which is simple in construction, easy to manufacture and economical in first cost and in operation.

It is also to be noted that the present invention provides a water heater having such a construction that the flue gases are not cooled to such an extent that they deposit a condensate on the heating surface while at the same time all of the desired heat is removed from the flue gas.

It is further to be observed that the present invention provides a water heater which has such a construction that the water is heated and is kept hot in practically an ideal way due to the fact that the heating surface is located at the lowest portion of the body of water and the un-' heated surface is located at the highest level in the tank which is practically completely insulated.

It is also to be observed that the present invention provides a water heater in which the bottom is heated and the sides and top are insulated practically perfectly.

Furthermore, the present invention provides a water heater in which channels or tubes or pipes are used for the discharge of flue gas or waste products of combustion and the flue gas channels or tubes are hidden in a layer of insulation between the inner surface of the casing and the outer surface of the water tank so that the tubes are insulated from a region adjacent to the combustion space or chamber below the water tank to the top of the tank.

Moreover, practical tests and experiments have demonstrated that the present water heater has such a construction that a pilot flame of minimum size is capable of balancing the heat losses so that the hot water within the water tank is practically never cooled off sufilciently when standing to cause the operation of the thermostat.

I claim:

1. A slow recovery water heater comprising an elongated water tank having a convex bottom and heating surface, a gas burner located underneath said convex surface and adapted to heat elongated water tank having a convex bottom and heating surface, a gas burner located underneath said convex surface and adapted to heat the water, a closed combustion chamber surrounding the bottom of said tank and said burner, a plurality of insulated waste gas flues spaced about the periphery of said tank for removing products of combustion of said burner to a region just above the top of said water tank at such temperature that a condensate is not deposited in said gas flue, a hot water outlet connected to the top of said water tank and not depending therein, and a pilot light of such size as to be capable of supplying sufficient heat to balance the heat losses whereby the water in the tank is maintained hot under normal, idle conditions.

3. A slow recovery water heater comprising an elongated cylindrical water tank having a con vex bottom and heating surface, a gas burner located underneath said surface and adapted to heat the water, a closed combustion chamber surrounding the bottom of said tank and said burner, a plurality of waste gas fiues connected to and spaced about said combustion chamber and extending upwardly along side of said tank to a region just above the top thereof, a down draft hood positioned on top of each waste gas flue pipe, an insulating jacket encasing said water tank and insulating said waste gas flues to prevent the loss of heat and chilling thereof and to prevent the cooling of products of combustion to such an extent that a condensate is deposited, and a hot water outlet connected to the top of said water tank.

4. A slow recovery water heater comprising an I elongated cylindrical water tank having a convex bottom and heating surface, a gas burner located underneath said surface and adapted to heat the water, a closed combustion chamber surrounding the bottom of said tank and said burner, a thermostat associated with said tank and adapted to turn the gas off and on in the gas burner to regulate the heating of water in the tank, a plurality of waste gas flues connected to and spaced about said combustion chamber and extending upwardly along side of said tank to a region just above the top thereof, a downdraft hood positioned on top of each waste gas flue pipe, an insulating jacket encasing said water tank and insulating said waste gas flues to prevent the loss of heat and chilling thereof and to prevent the cooling of products of combustion to such an extent that a condensate is deposited, a pilot light of such a size as to be capable of supplying sufficient heat to balance the heat losses whereby the water in the tank is never cooled off sufficiently to make the thermostat operative under normal, idle conditions, and a hot water outlet connected to the top of said water tank and not depending therein.

PER L. F. FEYLING. 

